Oyster plant
Tradescantia spathacea Sw.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 23 cm
- wide
- 41 cm
Commelinaceae
Also called Moses-in-the-cradle, Boatlily, Moses-in-the-basket, Boat lily, Boat-lily
Formerly Rhoeo spathacea, Ephemerum bicolor, Rhoeo discolor, Tradescantia discolor, and 2 more
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- SubshrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- S. Mexico to GuatemalaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 15 cm to 30 cmRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.1–0.5 m; NC State Extension 6–12 in
- Spread
- 30 cm to 51 cmRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.1–0.5 m; NC State Extension 1–2 ft
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- WhiteRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS white; NC State Extension blue, white
- Coldest it survives
- 1.7 °C (USDA zone 10b)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS 10 °C; NC State Extension -6.7 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Magueyito morado, Reo, hierba del cáncer
- Portuguese
- Abacaxi-roxo
- Chinese
- 紫背萬年青, 蚌蘭, 蚌兰叶
- root
- tsa'am, chak tsam, chak-ts'am, Рео
- Russian
- Традесканция разноцветная
- Indonesian
- Nanas Kerang, Adam Hawa
- French
- Gros curage, Rhoeo Hance
- Chinese (China)
- 紫背万年青
- Japanese
- シキンラン
- Swedish
- blomstervagga
- Danish
- Blomstervugge
- German
- Purpurblättrige Dreimasterblume
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, Public domain
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Tradescantia spathacea (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.